The “first foundation” of mindfulness is the body, which involves being aware of the physical sensations of the body, the body’s posture, how we move, and so on. The second foundation is “feelings.” Feelings are internally generated pleasant and unpleasant sensations that arise in the body. This isn’t so much sensations like the physical pain that comes from an aching back (although that’s included). More important are the the pleasant or unpleasant sensations that arise, mainly around the heart and gut, which are produced by the brain, through the action of …

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We’re making excellent progress toward the goal of Wildmind becoming a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative. In this new model Wildmind’s teaching will be supported by sponsors contributing as little as $4 each month.

Sponsors will of course gain a number of benefits. All of the new courses I develop will be available only for them. They’ll also have exclusive access to a monthly article and meditation download, as well as an online forum.

There are 1,500 shares available. Right now almost 40% of them have been sponsored. It’s taken only three weeks to get to that point, which is wonderful! Initially I thought it might take up to a year to reach our goal. Now it …

We’re making one of our introductory meditation courses, Sit Breathe Love, available free of charge. The course starts on May 7 and runs for 28 days.

This is indirectly connected to our move toward being a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative, where Wildmind will be entirely sustained through small donations given by sponsors. We’re 35% of the way to our goal in just two weeks, thanks to 200 kind sponsors, who will be getting exclusive access to new meditation courses, articles, meditation downloads, and an online discussion forum. If you’re curious about participating in this initiative, click here.

And to enroll in the meditation course, click here. But be quick! Places are limited and it’s …

The past

I started Wildmind in 2000 as a website where anyone could come to learn to meditate. It’s been a stunning success; we’ve had roughly 15 million unique visitors during that time! At first the sale of CDs supported my meditation teaching. Later, donations from participants on our meditation courses played a larger role.

That’s the past, and it’s no longer what’s needed. It’s proved to be financially unstable so that too much of my time and energy goes into trying to stay afloat. And it has too narrow an impact on the world. We need to go big.

The future

So we’re moving toward having Wildmind 100% supported by a large number of …

A painful path

A few weeks ago I told a few friends that I’d decided to give up teaching meditation. Things just hadn’t been working out financially. In particular it’d been impossible to attract enough people to my online courses. The plan was to substantially wind down Wildmind and get a regular job. So I started creating a résumé (my first since 1993) and scoping out employment opportunities.

Naturally, I had very mixed feelings about my decision, which had been painful to arrive at.  I was sad to be giving up on something I love doing, and that I find immensely satisfying. I was nervous about re-entering the job market. I was excited about the …

Today I invite you to help transform Wildmind into a Community-Supported Meditation Initiative.

This is urgently needed, because the way we’ve been doing things is no longer viable, to the point where a few days ago, I seriously believed I would have to give up teaching.

But I also want to make these changes so that Wildmind reflects my deeper values, and because of the sense of urgency I feel about bringing more mindfulness and compassion into the world.

The Old Way

I started Wildmind almost 20 years ago as a website where people could learn meditation for free. (That’s been a great success. We’re on track to have over 800,000 unique visitors this …

In the opening words to his book “The Road Less Traveled,” the late psychiatrist M. Scott Peck says:

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

I’d put this less absolutely than Peck does: once we know, understand, and accept that life is difficult, it becomes less difficult. This difficult thing of being human is made easier when …

A little over 35 years ago I heard the Dalai Lama speaking in Edinburgh. Someone asked him, “You’ve talked a lot about love today and you’ve talked a lot about the dangers of anger, but isn’t anger useful? Doesn’t anger get stuff done?” And his answer was, I thought, very astute. He said, as best I can recall, “Yes, anger does get things done. Anger can make things happen very quickly. And that’s why you have to be very careful with it.”

The thing is, anger speeds things up. It’s like hitting the gas pedal in the car. And if we’re going to speed up it’s helpful for us to check that the vehicle is …